Tag Archives: Gainesville (FL)

2014/03/26 (W) Coffee And A Bagel

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That can only mean one thing; we went to Panera today.  The temperature dropped to 34 degrees F just before sunrise and we slept in longer than normal because we did not have any pressing reason to leave the warmth of our covers (and I had the electric heater pad turned on).  We needed to do a little shopping today so once we got up we decided to forego coffee and breakfast at home and head to the shopping district on US-24 (SW Archer Road) in Gainesville.  The 3/4 mile stretch of this road from I-75 east to FL-121 (SW 34th St) is all shopping, and most of the stores are recognized national chains.  There is a Lowe’s, a Walmart, a Best Buy, JoAnn Fabrics and Michael’s crafts, a Trader Joe’s and two Publix supermarkets in addition to lots of smaller stores.  Fuel, of course.  And restaurants, lots of restaurants; I’m guessing as many as 50.

Linda at the Lazydays RV display at Williston Crossings RV Resort.

Linda at the Lazydays RV display at Williston Crossings RV Resort.

Our first stop?  Panera.  Good coffee, good bagels, and good WiFi.  Over the last couple of days I finally figured out how to subscribe to blog feeds using Feedly and helped Linda set it up on her iPad2.  We filled our coffee cups several times while reading and only decided to leave as the restaurant filled up with lunch customers.

Kevin (one of the lead volunteers at the resort) at the Lazydays RV display.

Kevin (one of the lead volunteers at the resort) at the Lazydays RV display.

We have been looking for a paper towel holder for the bus galley to get the paper towel roll up off the counter.  Kitchen counter space is premium real estate in any RV, and ours is no exception.  We wanted one with a brass finish to match all of the other hardware in the coach, but brass finishes are out of style and almost impossible to find at typical stores.  Linda could not even find one online.  White plastic holders are common, and inexpensive, but not a viable option for our interior.  We found a holder we liked at Lowe’s.  It has a brushed nickel finish and mounts to a wall, or under a cabinet, from one end only and should be mostly invisible once it is installed and has a roll of paper towels on it.  It is also substantial enough that we should not have to replace it every year like the plastic ones; hopefully never.

Fisher & Paykel drawer style dishwasher in one fo the Lazydays RV display motorhomes.

Fisher & Paykel drawer style dishwasher in one of the Lazydays RV display motorhomes.

While we were at Lowe’s we picked up a 2-pack of 5 micron sediment filters for our water softener pre-filter housing.  Five microns might be a tad small for operating directly from the water supply, but we always fill our fresh water tank and then use our on board pump to take water from there.  The pump provides good flow and this keeps the water in the tank from going stale.  As a result we can tolerate a slower flow rate when filling the tank in exchange for finer filtering.

Fireplace electric heater

Fireplace electric heater

We also saw some flooring material that looked very interesting for our interior remodeling project.  It’s a slightly rubbery material about 1/4 inch thick that comes in 20 inch squares with interlocking tabs on all four sides.  It gets installed without adhesive (free floating), so it can be taken up later if need be.  It comes in a variety of textures and colors/patterns, including a “white marble” that would look good with our medium walnut woodwork, beige furniture, and beige Corian counters, dining table, and end tables.  After living in the bus for two months this past summer and three months this winter the interior remodeling project has moved from “it would be nice someday” status to “we need to do this as soon as possible” status.  My immediate focus is still on “systems,” but we may attack the interior remodeling yet this year.

Kathy, Jack, Silvia, and John at Jeff and Kathy's Bounder.

Kathy, Jack, Silvia, and John at Jeff and Kathy’s Bounder.

Linda needed a fabric hoop for doing cross-stitch so we stopped at JoAnn Fabrics.  Hoop in hand, we walked next door to Publix and picked up hummus, a variety of chips, and some fresh fruit.  We were due at Jeff and Kathy’s rig at 4:00 PM for happy hour followed by a potluck dinner and had volunteered to bring munchies (so that we would have something we could eat).

Linda, Spencer, and Ali at Jeff and Kathy's Bounder.

Kevin, Linda, Spencer, Ali and Jeff at Jeff and Kathy’s Bounder.

We hooked the Epson Stylus Photo R800 printer up to Linda’s computer yesterday. Being an ink jet printer that rarely gets used, it rarely works well when we do try to use it because the cartridge nozzles dry up and clog from lack of use.  I wanted to print a test pattern and run the head cleaning utility, but we did not have the right driver/utility software installed to do this or to see which cartridges were low or out.  Etc.  But we did manage to print the thread number index and the first few pattern sheets for her next counted cross-stitch project which allowed her to get to work wrapping, numbering, and storing all of the different thread colors that are involved.  She ordered the threads and a storage/organizer box the other day through our Amazon Prime account and had them two days later.

Spencer, Ali, Jeff, and Sharon at Jeff and Kathy's Bounder.

Spencer, Ali, Jeff, and Sharon at Jeff and Kathy’s Bounder.

While drying out the bedroom ceiling after the heavy rain early last week I noticed that one of the mounting tabs for the Fan-Tastic Vent Fan motor cover was broken.  I searched online for the company and got the website for Atwood products.  Atwood bought Fan-Tastic and moved all of the operations from Imlay City, Michigan to Elkhart, Indiana about a year or so ago.  Fan-Tastic is well-known among RVers for their fabulous warranty and factory support, so the purchase by Atwood was not necessarily welcomed by RVers.  I called and got a voice message system: “press 1 for this, 2 for that…” Etc.  Ugh. I left a message and was frankly surprised when I got a quick call back from Sharon.  I described my problem and she determined the part we needed and processed the order.  We had it five days later, no charge for the part or shipping.  They are still Fan-Tastic in my book.

We walked over to the Lazydays RV display mid-afternoon and looked at the motorhomes and 5th wheel trailers they had on display.  Six to eight years ago medium cherry wood tones with nickel (or stainless steel) hardware were being used in lots of RV interiors.  This combination happens to be a favorite of ours, but now appears to be a bit out of fashion.  Most of the units on display were somewhat newer than that and really dark wood tones appeared to be the order of the day.  Purpose built motorhomes often do not have skylights and the side windows are much smaller than on our bus.  The combination leads to interiors that feel dark and confining to me, even with the slideouts extended.  Put out the awnings and it gets even worse.  We did not see anything we would trade for.

We headed over to Jeff and Kathy’s at the appointed hour with our chairs, snacks, and Yuengling lager.  Jeff is quite the cook with a real talent for bar-b-que, Creole, and other southern foods.  He makes his own sauces and devotes a lot of time to preparation and cooking.  He made a vegan pasta salad with garlic, olive oil, and some spices so we would have something to eat.  It was excellent and we probably ate more than our share of it.

 

2014/03/15 (S) The Ides Of March

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On Thursday I spent time on the RVillage website and doing e-mail related to the public launch that occurred on Wednesday.  I also did some last minute housekeeping chores in preparation for Linda’s return from the great white frozen north.

The back parking lot at Satchel's in Gainesville, FL.

The back parking lot at Satchel’s in Gainesville, FL.

At 4 PM John, Ali, and I went to Satchel’s in Gainesville, Florida for dinner.  The word “funky” was probably invented to describe this place; it was unique, charming, and very bohemian.  The service was excellent and the pizza was the best I have had at a restaurant since we went vegan in 2011.  The crust was thin and cooked to a nice crisp.  They had a pesto sauce option, a first for me, and a choice of three vegan cheeses!  I selected the Daiya cheese because Linda has used it in her cooking and I knew it would melt well and taste good.  Mushrooms, onions, and sun-dried tomatoes topped it off.  The vegan pizza only came in a “medium” size, and it would have been pricey at $20 if it had not been so large.  Two pieces made a meal and I took the other four slices back to the coach.

Satchel's twin-engine fuselage. Most restaurants do not have one of these.

Satchel’s twin-engine fuselage. Most restaurants do not have one of these.

Satchel’s also makes their soda beverages from scratch.  I had their ginger soda and it was outstanding.  Made with real ginger, it reminded me very much of a “ginger beer” I had many years ago at an Ethiopian restaurant in Detroit, Michigan.  I have wanted a repeat of that experience ever since but never found it until now.  They also had a choice of two vegan cookies.  I had the oatmeal raisin cookie.  It was huge and very tasty.  I saved half for Linda to have on the drive back from the airport.

The back entrance to the bar at Satchel's in Gainesville, FL.

The back entrance to the bar at Satchel’s in Gainesville, FL.

Linda sent a text message at 8:15 PM that they were shutting the doors on her plane and by 8:30 PM I was headed for the Orlando International Airport.  The drive took two hours and I had just pulled into the cell phone parking lot when she called to let me know that she had just de-planed (15 minutes ahead of schedule).  Ten minutes later she was in the car and we were headed back to Williston.  We arrived back at the RV resort just after 12:30 AM (Friday).

The main bar entrance at Satchel's in Gainesville FL.

The main bar entrance at Satchel’s in Gainesville FL.

We slept in Friday morning and when we finally arose decided to have an easy day and stick around the RV resort.  The weather was picture perfect but I did not make any pictures.  We went for a couple of walks, something we have both missed these last few weeks.  We went to the fire pit that evening, as we usually do if we are here on a Friday or Saturday night.  There was a big crowd initially, but it thinned out between 8 and 9 PM leaving us to chat with a core group of friends who tend to stick around.

Ali and John headed for the restraurant entrance at Satchel's.

Ali and John headed for the restraurant entrance at Satchel’s.

Saturday we stayed “local” as well.  We did some grocery shopping at the local fruit and veggie stand and then went to the Winn-Dixie.  W-D had several things on sale or BOGO, so we finally got our own W-D card.  Up until now we have used the card of whoever was in line in front of or behind us.  I spent much of the afternoon working on the roster and dues records for our FMCA Freethinkers chapter, of which I am the VP and Secretary.  The positions do not take a lot time over the course of a year, but when they need my attention they can take up all or part of a day or two.

Now that Linda is back we are both eating better.  She made a green bean quinoa salad and a lemony kale salad; both served cold and very refreshing on a lovely, slightly warm, late-winter evening.

John capturing some information about an upcoming live performance at Satchel's.

John capturing some information about an upcoming live performance at Satchel’s.

With the change to Daylight Savings Time and the advancing season it does not get dark here until closer to 8 PM.  The resort still has the fire pit scheduled from 6:30 – 10:00 PM, however, and there is a full group by 6:45 PM.  We prefer our campfires in the dark and delayed going over for a while.  We met a very charming couple from Quebec and another very nice couple with whom we shared mutual friends in Ed and Janet Roelle, the GLCC members who recommended Williston Crossings RV Resort to us in the first place.

By 8:00 PM the early arrivals start to leave the fire pit and a smaller group settled in for the duration of the evening.  One of the friends we have made here, Meg, is getting ready to leave on Monday and head to Flint, Michigan to visit her grand-daughter who will be home from school on break.  Meg stayed longer at the fire pit than usual and she and Ali spent time catching up with Linda.  Meg got involved in rescuing dogs from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and taking them back to Canada for veterinary care and adoption.  A whole network grew up around her and she was interviewed by CNN.  One of the things we like about RVing is that everyone has a story, and some of them are very different from our own, and truly fascinating.

 

2014/02/14 (F) Valentine’s Day

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“Hallmark Holidays” have never been a big deal for us, and Valentine’s Day is no exception.  However, we had no plans to visit state parks today, had been looking for a day to visit the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida in Gainesville, needed to make a visit to Walmart, and wanted to try one of the vegan-friendly restaurants in Gainesville, so Valentine’s Day provided the needed excuse to do all of that in the same trip.  Before I go on, I am including a picture of us taken by Marian Hagan on our outing with her and John to the two Crystal River state parks last Sunday.

Us at Crystal River Buffer Preserve State Park. (Photo by Marian Hagan.)

Us at Crystal River Buffer Preserve State Park. (Photo by Marian Hagan.)

We selected The Jones Eastside which was open all day serving breakfast and lunch, and was staying open for dinner.  We can usually find acceptable food for lunch and dinner if we are thoughtful about our choice of restaurant, but breakfast is often limited to dry toast with jam and/or fresh fruit.  Nothing wrong with that, of course, but also nothing special about it.  At The Jones Eastside, however, we were able to order a tofu scramble with sides of potatoes and fruit and a stack of vegan flax seed pancakes with fresh blueberries and real maple syrup.  We split each dish in half and had a really nice breakfast.  The Jones Eastside was highly recommended on both HappyCow.com and Yelp.com, and deservedly so.  It’s a quaint little place using organic ingredients and providing attentive service; you go for the food, not for an upscale setting.

From The Jones Eastside we drove through the heart of downtown Gainesville to where we thought the Florida Museum of Natural History was located.  We enjoyed seeing the non-university part of town, and parts of the UF central campus, but the museum was not where I thought it was.  Our Garmin 465T GPS did, however, and we followed its directions into a major traffic jam.  We had been to Gainesville several times, but had not seen traffic like this before.

We found the museum, paid $4 to park, and went in.  Admission was free except for the Butterfly Rainforest and special exhibits.  We spent a couple of hours exploring the free exhibits and plan to return for the Butterflies and a special exhibit titled “Wolf to Woof” on the evolution of the domestic dog.  Like most serious museums, you could spend days here depending on the level of detail you wanted to absorb.

By the time we were done at the museum it was 4 PM.  Our Valentine’s Day still needed something “sweet” so we headed to Karma Cream for vegan ice cream.  We fought our way (slowly) through more terrible traffic, but it was worth it.  🙂

“GPS, find us a Walmart, please.”  It showed two in Gainesville so I picked the closer one just up the street.  It was closed, the building vacant.  🙁  So I selected the other one on SW Archer (US-24).  We routed ourselves over to FL-121 southbound which intersects Archer close to the Walmart.  YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE ON THIS ROAD DURING AFTERNOON RUSH HOUR, which is actually “hope you’re not in a rush” hour.  Truthfully, you do not want to be in Gainesville during the evening rush hour.  Period.  End of story.  Total gridlock.  Fortunately we were not in a rush to be anywhere in particular by any certain time so we only had to deal with our self-imposed frustration at being stuck in traffic.  It won’t happen again, at least not in Gainesville.

We eventually got to the Walmart (thank goodness they are open 24/7).  We do not go out of way to shop there, but it’s the only place locally where we can find Calgon Bath Beads which we mix with water and Pine Sol and add to our holding tanks.  It is also where we bought our microwave popcorn popper and have to get the disposable cardboard heating discs that go in the bottom.

Shopping done, we had no choice but to venture back out into traffic.  OK, we had a choice; we could have sat there for a couple of hours until traffic thinned.  If we had been the least bit hungry we could have gotten something to eat while we waited, but having just had ice cream our appetites were satisfied.  Fortunately we were close to the SW corner of Gainesville by now where FL-121 turns SSW and heads through the country to Williston.  We arrived back at the RV resort after 6 PM, but there was no fire going in the fire pit.

WCRVR was having a Valentine’s Day dinner/dance starting at 5 PM so the Friday night fire had not been built by Kevin at its usual time as he and his wife had gone to the dinner/dance.  But a short time later I noticed a flickering flame and went to investigate.  Next door neighbors John and Ali had not gone to the dinner/dance either and John, being the backup fire guy, was getting one going.  We opened our bottle of sparkling pink moscato, bundled up a bit against the cool evening air, and went over.  Ali brought John’s guitar, the rocking chairs slowly filled up (~16 people), and we sang along when we knew the words.  It was a lovely capstone to a very nice Valentine’s Day (traffic notwithstanding).

 

2014/02/12(W) Back In Time

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We woke to an overcast sky with rain in the forecast for the afternoon.  One of the closer state parks to us is the Dudley Farm Historic State Park.  I don’t know how many types of state parks Florida has, but so far we have been to: “Regular” (un-designated/default); Preserve; Buffer (Preserve); Wilderness (Preserve); Archeological; Geological; and Wildlife/preserve.  This was our first Historic(al) park and I know they have Battlefield parks.   I will not be surprised to find out there are other types as well, such as Marine or Bird Sanctuary.

Located in Newberry, Florida the Dudley Farm Historic SP is NW of Williston and due west of Gainesville.  We also needed to do some shopping today, so a trip to the state park in the morning (before the rain started) followed by a swing through Gainesville was our plan for the day.  We were on our way by 10 AM, taking US-27/41 NNW out of  Williston through Archer to Newberry where we headed west on Newberry Road (FL-26) about a mile to the park entrance.

Although there was plenty of room to park, we were surprised by the number of cars in the parking lot.  The park is not open on Monday’s and Tuesday’s, but the reason for the crowd became evident when we entered the visitor center.  In addition to the normal park staff and volunteers there where at least six women in period clothing working on an old large quilt and another woman weaving at a small loom.  Wednesday mornings is when this happens and it added a touch of “living history” to our visit.  I have posted a separate photo gallery of our visit to the Farm.

There were a few buildings by the visitor center for display and demonstration, but the main farm was a quarter mile walk through the woods on a level path.  The Dudley Farm was a thriving, successful family enterprise that began before the Civil War and continued until after WW II.  The farmstead, consisting of 18 buildings, equipment, and furnishings, was donated to the State in the early 1980’s along with 23 acres of the 600+ acre farm.  The State later acquired an additional 232 acres and more recently another 80 acres for the visitor center, entrance road and parking lot area.  This is not a “recreated” farm; all the buildings are in their original locations except for the General Store, which was moved to the farmstead from its location near the main road.

We roamed the farmstead for over an hour looking at, and going in, buildings and taking photographs.  We had the place to ourselves except for some birds, chickens, turkeys, and three mules.  Although the farm was “rough” by modern standards, it was interesting to try to imagine this place as a “state of the art” operation full of generations of Dudley’s and farm hands engaged in the slow but steady work of farm and domestic life.  The tendency is to romanticize and envision this place as somehow idyllic.  It wasn’t.  The farmhouse was certainly comfortable compared to being outside, and life was good (at least for the Dudley’s), but it was no doubt a hard life.

By the time we were done touring the farmstead the overcast had lowered almost to a ground cloud and it had started misting.  Although we lacked bright sunlight, blue skies, and intense colors, the soft, even, subdued light was ideal for making lower contrast images and seemed somehow appropriate in mood to the empty, gray, weathered buildings of this now quiet farmstead, preserved so that we might glimpse a moment back in time.

If the Dudley Farm HSP was the past, Gainesville is definitely the here and now.  As we got to I-75 on FL-26 we encountered heavy traffic.  We had not been to this part of Gainesville yet, but now we know where the major shopping area is located!  You name it, it’s here.  Conveniently for us the Office Max, Michaels, Trader Joe’s, and PetSmart were all in the same mega shopping center (one of many).  Trader Joe’s had a quite a selection of house brand wines for $2.99/bottle (750 mL) so we bought several.  I hope they are to our liking, because I sure like the price.  They did not, however, have a house brand moscato 🙁  A final stop at the Kangaroo filling station for fuel and we were on our way back to WCRVResort.

Linda made one of our favorite dishes for dinner; whole wheat capellini (angel hair) pasta with garlic, onions, mushrooms (two kinds), sun-dried tomatoes, and basil lightly sautéed in olive oil; simple, but absolutely delicious.

 

2014/02/01 (S) San Felasco Hammock Preserve SP (FL)

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Having spent a long day Thursday visiting Pat and Vickie at Fort Wilderness, and with the weather still wet and cool, we stayed around our coach on Friday and relaxed.  Linda worked on her cross stitch for much of the day.  I did a load of laundry.  We went for a walk around the RV resort.  We met another group of campers from Michigan and stopped to chat briefly.  Linda made her wonderful vegan pancakes for dinner and then we went to the fire pit at 6:30 PM.  We visited briefly with Kevin, who is in charge of the fire pit, before he took off to play Texas Hold’em.  John and Ali, our next door neighbors to the east, were there as they are every Friday and Saturday night.  A few other folks showed up, but not as many as we have seen in past weeks, and they did not stay.  By 8:30 PM it was just the four of us and we had a nice, long visit.  Kevin came back after Texas Hold’em and visited for a little while before turning in.  I’ve included a photo gallery at the end of this post rather than insert the photos inline.

This morning we awoke to temperatures in the upper 40’s with dense fog, but the forecast was for a high near 80 degrees with only a 30% chance of rain.  We waited until noon for the temperatures to rise into the mid-60’s and then headed for Gainesville.  We had two State Parks to check out plus some shopping to do.

Our first stop was the Devil’s Millhopper State Geological Park.  A small park on the NW side of Gainesville, Florida the Devil’s Millhopper is a sinkhole to drains water back into the Florida aquifer.  It is 500 feet across at the top and 120 feet deep.  Water flows in from streams that become waterfalls, and seeps out of the steep side walls.  A wooden staircase gets you from the top to the bottom and back up while keeping hikers from destroying the vegetation which leads to serious erosion.

About 6 miles farther west on the same road is the trailhead for the hiking trails in the southern section of the San Felasco Hammock Preserve State Park.  The southern 2/3rds of the park is restricted to hiking only with over 12 miles of trail.  The area is pine flatwoods, with sinkholes and ponds and was the site of a Spanish mission a long, long time ago.  We went for a very pleasant three mile hike and rarely saw anyone else on the trail in spite of a very crowed parking lot at the trailhead.

My birthday is on Tuesday, and rather than make a special trip into Gainesville for dinner, we decided to dine out while we were there today.  Our hike completed, we drove to Karma Cream, a vegan friendly ice cream / pastry / sandwich shop on the north edge of the University of Florida campus.  We ordered a Tofurkey Rueben sandwich and a vegan “bacon” and Tofurkey club sandwich.  We each had a half of each sandwich.  Karma Cream has a good selection of non-dairy and dairy ice cream.  Linda had chocolate peanut butter and I had a Sunday with Lunaberry ice cream, dark chocolate hot fudge, whip cream, and crushed peanuts; all vegan.  Karma Cream is a hole-in-the-wall kind of place, staffed and patronized by college students many of whom had tattoos, but we enjoyed it.  It has a four and half cow rating on Happy Cow, and we felt that was an accurate assessment.

Just around the corner from Karma Cream is the Gainesville Earth Origins organic market, so we did our weekly grocery shopping there rather than at the Publix supermarket.  By the time we got back to our coach and put the groceries away it was time to go to the Saturday night campfire.  Even though the humidity was high, the milder temperatures brought out the crowd.  Jeff and John brought their guitars and played/sang some of their favorite country songs.  While country I not our preferred genre, we appreciated their musicianship and willingness to entertain their fellow RVers.  We can only sit for so long on hard chairs and made our exit from the campfire around 8:30 PM.

2014/01/21 (T) Paynes Prairie

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South entrance PPSP.

South entrance PPSP.

On the southern edge of Gainesville, Florida lies a surprisingly large and biologically diverse area known as Paynes Prairie.  Fifteen miles long and 50 miles in circumference, most of this ecosystem is now owned by the State of Florida and managed as the Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park.  Our winter encampment in Williston is only 15 miles SW of the SW corner of Gainesville, and so less than that to the south entrance of the park on US-441.

Live Oak with Spanish moss, PPSP.

Live Oak with Spanish moss, PPSP.

Although there was a 30% chance of rain for the mid-afternoon we had blue skies in the morning and pleasant if somewhat cool temperatures, so we decided to drive over to the Preserve and check it out.  Members of our FMCA Freethinkers chapter had planned their arrival in Florida to include a couple of nights at Williston Crossings, so we knew we would be sticking around the RV resort to visit with them while they were here.  Besides, with our annual State Park pass we don’t have to worry about paying entrance fees only to have our plans cancelled by weather.

Egret, PPSP.

Egret, PPSP.

The south entrance has a ranger station and is where the Visitor Center, campground, observation tower, and several hike/bike/horse trails are located.  We watched a 20 minute film on the history and current restoration of the area.  By the time it was over it had started raining, so we spent some time in the Visitor Center looking at the exhibits.  The rain let up so we hiked out to the observation tower and walked up to the top platform (50 feet high).  The rains returned and we waited out the light showers on the covered observation platform.  The view from the tower gave us a sense of the expanse of Paynes Prairie.

Along the Cove Dike Trail, PPSP.

Along the Cove Dike Trail, PPSP.

The skies cleared from the north and we hiked part of the Cove Dike trail along the southern edge of the prairie.  You have to pass through a narrow serpentine entrance to get onto the part of the trail that runs along the edge of the treeless and wet prairie.  The sign includes a warning that you are entering a wilderness area and that the prairie is not a zoo or petting farm; the animals (alligators, bison, horses, etc.) are wild.  The serpentine entrance is presumably to keep these larger, wild animals from escaping the preserve, which appears to be completely fenced.  It’s odd, and yet very cool, to read such a sign with the broadcast TV antennas of Gainesville visible on the horizon some 15 miles away.  Wilderness is not always remote.

Snake, Cove Dike Trail, PPSP.

Snake, Cove Dike Trail, PPSP.

The Cove Dike trail was high and dry for the most part, but the prairie was very wet.  The only animals we saw we birds and a small snake that I almost stepped on.  We saw evidence of larger animals including bison and horse scat, hoof prints, and areas of earth that had been disturbed, perhaps to create a resting place for the night.

This place is not a zoo or theme park.

This place is not a zoo or theme park.

The area has had a lot of rain the last few weeks and part way out the trail was closed, so we turned around.  Once back at the car we drove around to the north entrance, which you get to by driving through a subdivision.  Again, we had to pass through the serpentine entrance with wilderness warning signs.  From this entrance there is a boardwalk that leads to an old dike that goes out into the prairie.  The best wildlife viewing, including alligators, is purported to be from this trail.   We had just gotten to the beginning of the boardwalk when the rain resumed.  Concerned about getting the camera wet, and wanting to photograph the area, we decided to return another day with better weather and headed back to the car.

Egret, north boardwalk area, PPSP.

Egret, north boardwalk area, PPSP.

After a day on the edge of wilderness Linda made Farro with mushrooms, onions, garlic, and Swiss chard.  She added a few hot red pepper flakes which gave the dish a nice edge. We finished up a bottle of Yellowtail Moscato we had opened the night before.  A very sweet, relatively inexpensive wine that we can get at the Grocery Depot in Williston, walking distance from the RV resort.

Egret, north boardwalk area, PPSP.

Egret, north boardwalk area, PPSP.

 

2014/01/03 (F) Power Dinner

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Linda went to the Publix grocery store in Gainesville yesterday, so we are well stocked for the next week or so.  We also learned last night from Donna and Michael Bartolomeo that there are several vegan restaurants in Gainesville as well as a vegan ice cream parlor / bakery / brewery and a vegan pizzeria.  While we don’t plan to eat out very often, having vegan dining options less than 20 miles away is a nice plus.  The Happy Cow website confirmed their addresses and menu selections.

The overnight low hit 35 degrees F, but that is not unexpected in this part of Florida in January.  We had closed up the rig before we went to bed and did not turn on any of the heaters (other than the refrigerator) so the temperature inside dropped to just under 60 degrees F; a bit nippy, but not uncomfortable.  The refrigerator is a compressor driven residential unit that exhausts heat out the bottom front into the kitchen/dining area.  In warmer weather (no rain) we usually have the ceiling vent open and the exhaust fan running to pull that warm air out of the coach.  But in colder weather the vents are closed and the heat from the fridge helps keep the coach from getting too cold.

We lost power to the coach around 11:15 AM, but only for a few minutes.  The inverter kicked in immediately and did what it is supposed to do.  The microwave clock did not lose its time and the UPS that powers the NAS kept it double protected.  The power was restored before I could go investigate what had happened.  When I checked later there was no code set in our Progressive Industries EMS, indicating that we had simply lost power and then had it restored, which clears any previous error codes.

The View From Our Coach on Site 439 at WCRVR.

The View From Our Coach on Site 439 at Williston Crossings RV Resort.

After her morning walk Linda worked on her needlepoint while the light was good and I took care of e-mail, finished up the blog post for yesterday, and started working on the Arcadia Rally article for BCM.  I had an e-mail from BCM publisher Gary Hall indicating that they planned to bump the rally article to the March 2014 issue, so that gave me a little breathing room in terms of getting it done.  Gary also sent me the January 2014 special edition they produced for the FMCA Great Lakes Area Motor Coach Association (GLAMA).  This issue has an extensive article that I wrote on the September 2013 GLAMARAMA rally.  GLAMA is going to include the entire issue in their next newsletter, which will go out to somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 members.

Tonight was one of the scheduled fire pit nights at the resort.  The fire pit is only 100 feet from our site so we checked it out.  It‘s under cover and surrounded by large rocking chairs and a couple of benches.  We often enjoyed campfires when tent camping, but have not made very many since we started RVing in 2005.  We were planning on going when I got a call from Michael Bartolomeo inviting us to their motorhome for dinner.

Michael indicated that it had been a strange night and that’s when we found out that the whole north section of the park had lost power overnight.  Apparently the short power outage we experienced this morning was connected with the restoration of power to the north section.  We stopped by the office later and inquired as to what had happened.  Sometime the night before someone ran into a utility pole (outside the park) and took out power to half the city of Williston including the north section of the RV resort.  When utility crews finally repaired the damage and restored power, the transformer that feeds the southern half of the northern section failed.  A replacement had to be brought in from some distance away, and residents in that part of the resort were without power for about 18 hours.

Donna and Michael had been without power overnight and when they got it back their furnace decided not to work.  Michael was able to locate a loose connection and tighten it this morning which brought the furnace back to life, but they had a chilly night in their rig.  They had us over for dinner nonetheless and it was wonderful.  We had pistachios (in the shell) for an appetizer, butternut squash soup with fresh apple slices and croutons, and whole bean burritos with guacamole, spicy salsa, and steamed kale.  They served dark chocolate covered almonds for dessert and we drank Pinot Grigio to wash it all down as we continued our conversation from the night before.  No pictures yet, however, as we have not crossed paths with them during the day when I also had my camera with me.

2013_12_24 (T) Christmas Eve in Florida

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If you had asked me even 10 years ago if we would ever be in Florida on Christmas Eve I would have scoffed at the suggestion.  And yet here we are; and loving it.  We got up around 8 AM to clear skies and cool temperatures, the overnight low having gotten all the way down close to 50 degrees F.  There was a light breeze, and it was a bit brisk, but we were bemused to see people bundled up like they were in Michigan (where the temperatures were near 10 deg F).  Speaking of Michigan, there are quite a few people here at Williston Crossings RV Resort from our state, as well as from Ontario, Canada.

I made coffee, as I do every morning, and that got Linda up, as it does most mornings.  Teeko’s Sweet Seattle Dreams is a 50/50 mix of their Seattle Blend (caffeinated) and Sweet Dreams blend (decaffeinated).  We were the first customers that Jeff made this particular combination for, and he liked the aroma so much he is considering brewing up some to serve by the cup.  Not that we’re addicted or anything, but we like to start our day with the smell of coffee being ground and brewed.  The drinking that follows isn’t too bad either.  I uploaded several blog posts before breakfast and a few more afterwards while Linda went for her first walk of the day.  She is very focused on getting in at least 10,000 steps every day, and determined to drag me along.  🙂  We then headed for Gainesville, Florida to do some grocery shopping.

There was a Christmas Eve social at 4 PM in the Activities Building at Williston Crossings RV Resort; BYOBeverage and a hor d’ourves to share.  We didn’t have anything with us to share, so we picked up hummus and chips while we were in town.  Linda also needed various ingredients for our Christmas eve and Christmas day dinners.  Our research indicated that our best general purpose grocery option would be Publix, a large grocery store chain in Florida.  There are several in Gainesville (home of the University of Florida and the Florida Gators).  There is also an Earth Origins organic market in Gainesville.  One of the Publix stores is in the SW corner of the Gainesville area at the intersection of I-75 and FL-121, just 15 miles from the back entrance of the Williston Crossings RV Resort.  The Earth Origins market is in the northwest quadrant just north of the University of Florida campus.  Between the two stores we were able to find most of the products we are used to getting from the stores where we live, including Whole Foods.  We did not look for the Trader Joe’s in Gainesville on this trip, but we know there is one there if/when we need it.

We had a light lunch when we got back.  I continued to work on blog posts (I am almost caught up) while Linda entered receipts into Quicken and copied photo files from the NAS to her machine for redundant storage.

We took a roasted red pepper hummus and chips to the Christmas Eve social.  Our main reason for going was to be sociable, not for the food, but we always try to take something we can eat on the assumption that there won’t be anything else vegan available.  We got there just after 4 PM and left about an hour later.  During that time there were approximately 40 people there, enough to fill the room but a small percentage of the residents.  All seven people at our table were first time residents at Williston Crossings.  One couple was from Ontario and another had recently become full-timers, having sold everything and hit the road this past July.  Someone brought veggies, so we had something to eat besides the hummus and chips.

Linda prepared a lovely Christmas Eve dinner of angel hair pasta (somehow appropriately inappropriate for us) with mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes tossed in an olive oil with garlic.  A little white wine to wash it down and some fresh strawberries for dessert finished the meal off nicely.

After dinner I went to the Adobe website to see if I could get some pre-sales technical support before deciding whether to order the Adobe Photoshop Photography Program.  This program is subscription based and includes Photoshop Creative Cloud and Lightroom 5 for $9.99 per month (with a one year commitment).  My Live Chat customer support person indicated that I would be able to use this on my old Windows XP Pro laptop, so I went ahead and ordered it.  Adobe was very efficient at taking my money, but as soon as I tried to download Photoshop I was informed that it was not compatible with my operating system.  Aaaarrrrgggghhhh.  I had a few “words” with the Live Chat person about this.  When our Live Chat session was done I was presented with a survey and I made it clear I was not pleased with the pre-sales support I had received which seemed more concerned with “helping” me to place the order than with accurately responding to my technical questions.

The subscription allows us to install the programs on two computers, and I did establish (I think) that we can move it to a new machine if/when we get one.  For now we downloaded the Creative Cloud app onto Linda’s much newer 64-bit Windows 8 machine and then used the app to download both Ps(CC) and Lr5 onto her computer.  Although Linda will probably not be the primary user of this software it at least got it installed so we can start learning how to use it.

2013_12_23 (M) Williston Walkabout

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The FL-121 entrance sign.

The FL-121 entrance sign.

With 3.5 days of hard driving behind us and nothing we had to get up and do first thing this morning, we slept well last night and got up when we were ready.  That turned out to be around 7:30 AM, but that was two hours later than the last few mornings.  We had a leisurely start to the morning and eventually went on a walkabout to explore the Williston Crossings RV Resort and the town of Williston, Florida.

The new FL-121 entrance/gate.

The new FL-121 entrance/gate.

Besides the beautiful landscaping, the high quality of the sites/infrastructure, the excellent Wi-Fi, and the nice people we have met so far (staff and residents) one of the things we like about Williston Crossings RV Resort is that it appears to be very quiet and relaxed even though lots of people are out and about.  The people parked next to us, for example have an outside TV.  They were watching it at 7 AM this morning while smoking, which they do constantly, but we never heard the TV and we never smelt the smoke.  We only knew they were there because we looked out our window and saw them.

The recycling area.

The recycling area.

A couple of bonus features we discovered included the recycling program and the RV/Car Wash station, available for use at no extra charge.  Another plus is that the resort is walking distance from Williston, a city of 2,200 residents (not including the RV Resort).  We walked downtown this morning and discovered a grocery store, two drug stores, two hardware stores, and a variety of non-chain eateries.  When we got back we walked the RV Resort and took pictures.  Our estimate is that there are at least 600 sites here so there are, or will be, at least half as many people staying at the RV park during January and February as live in Williston.  It’s a BIG park, but you can only see limited portions of it from any given vantage point, so it has much more intimate feel to it.

The RV/Car Wash station.

The RV/Car Wash station.

We also checked out a possible different site (#439) that was available in the old section of the resort and decided to move our reservation to that site.  The pull-through site we originally reserved for January – March was in the new section where the tree cover is sparse to non-existent, making the sites much more exposed to the sun.  Site #439 is a back-in rather than a pull-through which will save us $400 over the three months we are here.  The main reason for moving, however, was that it has the mature trees of the older section, including Live Oaks draped with Spanish moss, which will provide a more attractive setting while affording us good shade from the sun.  By the time we got back to our coach we had walked about 6,000 steps.  At 2 feet/step that was 12,000 feet or a little over two miles.  At 2.5 feet/step it was 15,000 feet, or just under three miles.  Either way, we would not have done that at home with temperatures in the mid 20s and lots of snow on the ground.

Linda with the Christmas dolphin near the swimming pool.

Linda with the Christmas dolphin near the swimming pool.

The north end of the resort is still under development and the landscaping is sparse compared to the south (older) end.  We were told that the northwest corner is being developed with sites that can be purchased.  The roads and utilities are in, but most of the sites have not been paved and landscaped.  This part of the resort is closer to the club house, swimming pool, and pavilion.  At the center of the north section are three full size train cars and a caboose.  We do not know what plans the owners have these but they are badly in need of restoration.

Three train cars and a caboose.

Three train cars and a caboose.

The nearest cities of any size are Gainesville (20 miles) and Ocala (25 miles).  Gainesville is a college town.  It has a Trader Joe’s, a few “health food” stores, several farmers markets, and a Panera so we will be making that trip occasionally for items we cannot find in Williston.  We are looking forward to eating a lot of locally sourced fruits and vegetables while we are here.  The Nutrition Facts daily video reports for the last few days have been about recent studies on the remarkable properties of berry fruits.  It’s worth checking out.

We were surprised this morning when we got an “access denied” message when we tried to view the Nutrition Facts video.  Nutrition Facts uses YouTube to make their videos available and had a problem a few weeks ago with a false report of “offensive/inappropriate content” which shut them down for 24 hours until they got it straightened out with the powers that be.  We weren’t sure at first if this had happened again or if we were being blocked from getting to YouTube by the resorts Wi-Fi system.  A quick check of YouTube directly indicated that the resort was apparently blocking YouTube.  As large as the resort is, it is understandable that they don’t want people streaming video content, and YouTube would be an obvious site to block.

(Opinion: People who abuse the ability to report offensive or inappropriate content of YouTube by making false claims should themselves be barred from ever using YouTube again.)  Nutrition Facts is now backing up their collection of almost 800 videos to another service (Vimeo, I think) as a precaution against this happening in the future.

Verizon Mi-Fi to the rescue!  We always try to use Wi-Fi when it’s available but we have the Mi-Fi device for just those situations where we can’t.  As long as we were powering up the Mi-Fi device we did a little experiment:  Instead of connecting to it directly, we had the Wi-Fi Ranger connect it and then connected our computers to the Wi-Fi Ranger.  Bingo, worked like a charm.  More to the point, we were able to watch the Nutrition Facts dot Org video.

We connected back to the resort Wi-Fi system and turned off the Mi-Fi.  I then downloaded a new version of a program that was 84 MB without objection from the resort Wi-Fi system.  Linda renewed a few memberships that we had not taken care of before we left and I continued to work on cleaning up e-mail.  Adobe has an interesting offer available to anyone who wants it for Photoshop CC (creative cloud) and Lightroom 5; $9.99/month with a minimum one year contract.  But you have to order by December 31st.  They are no longer going to sell these programs, so if you want them, this is how you will have to get them.  You can install on two computers under the terms and conditions.  Renewals will be at “current prices”, so no guarantee it that the price will remain at present level.

I did not order it yet as some of the features appear to require a 64 bit operating systems (Win 7, 8, or Mac).  That works on Linda’s laptop, but not mine.  I downloaded a new version (18.0) of WinZip this morning, only to discover that it would not install on anything less that MS Vista.  I like my existing Dell laptop computer, and I like Windows XP Pro SP 3, but it’s becoming all too clear that I am going to have to get a new machine, probably sooner rather than later.  Ugh.  In the world of computing one of my least favorite things is the process of moving to a new operating system.

It was pleasantly warm today, in the lower 80s, and bit humid but with a light breeze, so we wanted something light for dinner.  Linda walked back to the local grocery store to pick up some fresh greens for a dinner salad and few odds and ends from the drug store.  Around 3 PM the grounds crew passed through our area and used a leaf blower to clean the patio portion of our concrete pad.  Nice touch.  They also mentioned to Linda that the reason the current occupant was vacating site #439 was because one of the adjacent neighbors liked to build a fire every evening and he didn’t like the smoke.  We often have campfires at night when we are camping in cooler weather, but decided to check that out after it got dark.  We did not see any obvious problem, but we will investigate a little further tomorrow.